Only Skin Deep
by autumn midnights
Summary: Set during DH, Susan and Hannah It doesn't matter that Hogwarts is beautiful, and the snow falling down makes it seem like a picture on a Christmas card. So what if it's nice to look at? After all, beauty is only skin deep - and the darkness in Hogwarts certainly isn't beautiful. Canon, slight mentions of Hannah/Neville. Voted 3rd best oneshot - June Fan Fav. Oneshot Awards.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: This is for 'The One Line Competition 3' on HPFC, where all the entrants were given the same first line - in this case, 'Late into the night, the snow fell and fell' - and we each had to write a story that starts with that line.

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Late into the night, the snow fell and fell. Winter at Hogwarts was always beautiful; the snow on the expansive grounds and the castle itself looked as if it were part of a painting, as opposed to anything real. If anybody had been looking at the scene, they would have described it as glorious and breathtaking, for it really was.

The inhabitants of Hogwarts, though, didn't particularly care. It was past midnight, which meant that almost all the students were asleep in their beds, attempting to get some rest. For many, it was difficult to sleep - the events of the past few months caused many to toss and turn, either unable to fall asleep or plagued by nightmares. None of them were bothering to look out the window and see the snow gently falling down, draping the castle in white.

Susan Bones sat up, a quiet sigh escaping from her lips as she used the pillow to prop herself up. There was no denying that it was hard to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, memories of the Carrows' dark methods flashed through her mind, and there was no escaping it, or so it seemed to her. She glanced at the other three beds. Leanne and Eloise had pulled the curtains across their respective beds so they couldn't be seen. Megan seemed asleep, although she rolled over more than once. Hannah suddenly bolted upright, breathing heavily. "Are you all right?" Susan asked, concern for her friend evident in her voice.

"Bad dream," Hannah gasped. "The Carrows - Neville -" She didn't finish, but Susan could guess the basics of Hannah's bad dream. It seemed that was almost everybody's dreams now, either themselves or somebody else in the Carrows' clutches, being tortured for no reason. It was both dreams and real life, unfortunately.

"How's Neville?" Susan, like most of the seventh year students apart from the Slytherins, was in Dumbledore's Army. However, Hannah was much closer to Neville than she was. "Are you two..."

Hannah shrugged, her breathing returned to normal. "I don't know. It's complicated. I mean, it's not like we can exactly go out - there's no place to go." Very few students had been allowed Hogsmeade privileges. Apparently Alecto and Amycus Carrow were worried that if students were allowed into Hogsmeade, they would try and leave Hogwarts. Which, in the case of many students, probably was true. It was actually the students not in the D.A., though, that they had to worry about - Dumbledore's Army was determined to remain there and protest everything. Other students wanted to leave.

"True." Susan fidgeted with the blanket. In prior years, she would have pressed for details about Hannah and Neville, and the two of them would have talked about it for a long time, eventually switching to how Susan should get a boyfriend. It seemed so trivial now, however, in light of the events happening both outside Hogwarts and within it. Talking about boys seemed immensely ridiculous, when almost every day students were getting tortured, and outside of Hogwarts people were being killed. "I just want this year to be over. I can't believe it's only January."

"It seems like it's been longer," Hannah agreed. "The past couple years..." She let this sentence trail off as well, but just as before, Susan knew what she was referring to. Hannah's mother had been killed by Death Eaters the previous year, not to mention there were constant reports of Death Eater activity in general, which brought everyone down. Then this year, what with the Carrows and their horrific detentions...Hogwarts was no longer a pleasant place to be.

"I know. I know," she repeated quietly. She had also lost family to You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, and she could understand what Hannah was going through. Neither Susan nor Hannah had wanted to return to Hogwarts for this year once the news of Snape as Headmaster had gotten out, but the rule was that attendance was mandatory. Over the whole summer they had kept in constant contact, barely a day going by without them exchanging letters; they were afraid of losing one another, it was true.

The best friends exchanged a sad glance before looking away at the same time. Susan swung her legs out of bed and crossed over to the window, staring out into the darkness. For the first time that night she saw the beauty of a snowy night at Hogwarts. Since the Hufflepuff dormitory was so low, she could only see the snow on the ground, but that didn't affect how breathtaking the scenery was. "What is it?" Hannah asked.

For a second she didn't reply, but she then turned back to face the other Hufflepuff girl. "It's just...if you look out there, it's so beautiful. Hogwarts is so nice in the winter. It's like, I don't know, but the outside is so beautiful and then within, the atmosphere in here is just so dark. It's such a contrast."

"Beauty is only skin deep," Hannah murmured, tiptoeing across to the window as well, in order not to wake the other girls. "I used to think it was a stupid saying, when I was young." She sighed. "I thought if someone was nice to look at, then they had to be a nice person. I didn't understand it."

"Now you do," Susan replied, still staring out the window. "I never realized that it could apply to a place, to be honest. I heard the saying and automatically thought of a person who's attractive, but mean. And that is true. But now - it fits Hogwarts to a tee. Hogwarts is still beautiful - hell, just look outside. But it's not the place it used to be."

"No," Hannah answered. "No, it's really not."

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**Um...yeah. Not exactly what I planned, but I just kind of ran with this idea. I do like the Susan/Hannah friendship, and I hope that I portrayed it decently well here. I have been trying to write some more Trio Era, after all, and I haven't really written these Hufflepuffs before. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading! This is a oneshot and will not be continued.**


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